Wiper Off Switch

[Guest]

I am having trouble with my wiper off switch on the dash. It will not turn wipers off when first pressed. I have to repeatedly hity the switch. Has anyone replaced this switch. I am not mechanically gifted, but interested in trying. I have an 89 Reatta.

Thanks. John from Columbus, OH

[Guest imported_Flash]

I hesitated to reply to this yesterday for fear that some would mis-construe my answer...but hear goes...

If it were me, I would first try a small squirt of WD40 around the button, and work the button a few times to "clean" the contact. I say this simply because 2 recent "electrical" problems were fixed this way. 1. trunck lock. 2. dash panel buttom illuminators blinking on and off. Barney gave me the insight to try WD on the trunk lock which had stopped working and the WD fixed it. Howard relayed a dash light fix with WD, I tried it and it worked.

A dealership or other "experienced" mechanic would likely fix it in a more textbook way, however I am far from a mechanic.

I'm not promoting WD as a miracle elixir for Reattas, just that in some cases, it is fast, easy, and you know almost imediately whether it worked or not.

[Guest DTerry]

I must agree with Flash. I picked up both switch groups at a junkyard for almost nothing, and the "lights off" switch wouldn't. WD-40'd it and the whole thing works perfectly. WD-40 is the first thing I try on most anything, with excellent results. Last resort, try the dishwasher. No, really! I've restored a number of things that way! If it's trash anyway, run it through a full cycle in your dishwasher, dry it and WD-40 it. Learned it from a EE friend at the Mobil lab in Dallas. Took him my 56 T-Bird radio to see if he could make it work; he ran it through one cycle of the dishwasher and it was still working fine when I sold the car.

[Rawja]

I don't know if the faces of the buttons would survive the dishwasher, but I have used WD-40 with success on the contacts within the Reatta's headlight control pod which is of similiar construction to the wiper pod.

[Howard]

Holy Cascade! While I did run my floor mats through the washing machine (it worked well for me), I'm not sure I would run anything through the dishwasher. I guess if the part was "junk" anyway, I could not hurt it anymore than it already is. I do have a question, and I'm serious, are the parts run through just with water or is dishwasher powder used? I might try it on my bad window switch. I've replaced it with a new one, so I might try it as a test on my old one. Howard

[FlyByNite]

I've done keyboards with sugared coffee spilled on them in the dishwasher for years. It was a common occurance at the bank.

[Guest DTerry]

I use regular dishwasher soap, such as Cascade. I even ran a watch through once. Cheap disposable watch that had quit; took the back cover off first. Darned if it didn't start running again...lasted about another month. I have an instrument panel cluster with the bottom half inop. Tried it with no results, but the part that worked was unharmed. I wash hats in the dishwasher; why didn't I think of running the floor mats through? Good idea!

[Guest EDBS0]

On second thought, let me pass on that dinner invitation <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

On a second, second thought, for smaller parts do you think that heating/boiling then in a pot with dish washer detergent on the stove top might work?

Just an idea?

[Guest DTerry]

Don't know, but you could sure re-shape the plastic parts. BTW, you should see the things I run through the clothes washer. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />